A Letter From the Dead
by May a Chance
Summary: With just a few letters from the Realm of Death, the world is changed for the better. All because of one dead person with a huge heart. It weighed twice as much as it should have.


_Hello Harry,_

_I get the sense you are very confused as to who is writing this letter, but allow me to assure you that this is no hoax, and is actually from me. There is so much I want to tell you, yet I have so little space to tell you it. Harry, you are like a little sibling to me, and I love you as though you are my own brother, and that will never change._

_Don't beat yourself up, Brother. My death is in no way your fault, and if you can't see that (which you can't, I can tell) then I will make you see it. The moment we arrived at the Graveyard, you looked at one of the graves and said, "We need to go," with this urgent not in you voice. I didn't listen to you, and within a minute Wormtail had skewered me with his wand. I am dead because Wormtail fired a curse at me, and you had nothing to do with it. I wish I could have been with you a little longer, then maybe Voldemort wouldn't be back, but all the same it is NOT YOU FAULT! I cannot stress the importance of the last three words enough. My death is not your fault and it never will be. Remember that._

_There's something I need you to do. Live. Harry, you are a brilliant person and I think you could be the next Merlin. When you become the next Merlin, right me a letter with the owl who delivered this. Actually, right me a letter as soon as possible._

_The owl's name is Symba, and he is now yours. I now live in the Realm of Death, where all of us dead people are, and I asked permission from the almighty high-overlord Death (well, I actually didn't, but what I do with my afterlife is not Death's business) to choose a few owls and send letters to my living friends and family. You are the first to receive a letter, and don't spoil the surprise for Hufflepuff House (can I just say Lady Helga is awesome? I met her!), Cho, and my parents. Oh, and Fleur and Krum. They deserve to receive a letter, but no owls for them!_

_Symba can turn invisible and doesn't need to be fed, so keeping him should be no problem._

_Remember Harry, you are like a brother to me, so don't beat yourself up and live the life you were meant to live. Kill Voldemort and avenge me before becoming more powerful than Merlin Emyrs himself!_

_I love you, Brother,_

_Cedric Justyn Diggory, your big brother_

Harry read the letter with fascination. Cedric was writing him... From the dead? Weird. So Harry decided to quill the dead teen a letter, and see if 'Symba', the large, golden brown barn owl, could bring a reply back to Cedric.

_Dear Cedric (I hope),_

_The letter you sent me seems almost too good to be true. I will need proof that you are Cedric Justyn Diggory, my big brother. What were his last words to me before we entered the Graveyard and in the Graveyard?_

_If you answer that question, then I will believe that you are my pseudo older sibling, and will gladly continue to write you._

_Sincerely, Harry James Potter._

Symba the barn owl flew off with the letter and disappeared with a crack into the shadows. It really was magical.

After ten minutes of staring out the window of his dorm bedroom, Symba returned, a letter clutched in his beak.

Harry thanked the bird and opened the letter.

_Dear Brother Harry,_

_Brilliant! My little brother is cautious but not overly so! He believes bad big brother Cedric isn't going to make his hands puff up!_

_To answer your question, Ry, before the grayeyard I said 'You're on, come here,' in response to your suggesting we take the cup together. I said that because you had your left ankle broken (I think) by that acromantula that tried to kill us. For the latter part, my real last words were 'Wands out, d'you reckon?'. But I really wish they could have been something awesomer like 'Remember, fear is but the next great adventure' or something, but preferably not quoting Dumbledore and preferably funny. Perhaps 'The idea is to die young as late as possible'. That would be fun. Some Ashley Montagu said that._

_Anyways... I hope that makes you feel better, Ry, and I might as well ask you something as well. When did we first meet, and what was the first thing I said after that?_

_I think that would be an excellent question, as after that first meeting, no one saw our first meeting (when we actually spoke)._

_Love you Bro,_

_Cedric_

Harry smiled at his honorary siblings words. Cedric was far chattier on paper than in life. He remembered when the Chasers for his quidditch team (Katie Bell, Angelina Johnson (George Weasley fancied her) and Alicia Spinnet) had commented on how Cedric was "tall, goodlooking," and "Strong and silent," from two different yet very similar points of view. Fred Weasley had protested that Cedric was "Too thick to string two words together," a theory Harry strongly opposed; Cedric was easily one of the smartest people he knew.

Harry grabbed his hawk-feather quill and began to quill the next letter.

_Dear Brother Cedric,_

_Correct! You are Cedric Justyn Diggory! Yay! *runs around in happy circles and laughs maniacally*_

_To answer you question it was after that quidditch match in third year. I was in the hospital wing and it was about midnight, but you snuck in because you figured that I'd be as restless as you were after the match._

_You were perfectly silent and I didn't notice you until you actually spoke. It was really dark and when you said, "Sorry 'bout the game, kid," I jumped outa my skin and only barely avoided screaming._

_I had stared off into space and generally not paying any attention to anything, but I was also upset about the game and losing the game for my team. I said, "Hello, Mr. Diggory," and you smiled, telling me to call you Cedric. I continued asking why you were there, and you said, "To apologize, I thought that was obvious."_

_Then it was quiet until you spoke again. "You feeling alright, Harry? You look pretty under the weather," and I laughed. I told you of course I felt terrible. I had lost the game for my team, had my soul half sucked out by dementors and fallen from a hundred feet. You just laughed quietly. Then you started to blame yourself, and it took me at least a half hour to convince you it wasn't your fault. _

_After that we were both quiet and you hung out until I finally fell asleep ten minutes later. Then you left. We've been friends ever since_

_Damn, I miss just being able to talk to you without having to write it all out. I just wish you weren't dead!_

_For the fun of it, when did we talk after the Goblet incident?_

_Love, Harry_

Harry noticed a single damp spot on the parchment and realized he'd been crying slightly. He just wanted his brother back so much it hurt, but he knew it couldn't be anything to how Cho and Mr. and Mrs. Diggory were feeling. Heck, how Hufflepuff was feeling. They had lost their leader, and would be broken without him.

He sent Symba off with the letter and was pleased when the owl returned with a letter.

_Dear Harry,_

_That was a bad night. We both were blaming ourselves for things out of our control. We both just needed to talk to someone who was going through the same thing._

_It was right after we came out from that side room. I remember that you were trembling with fear and didn't even want to think about what your house was going to do. Naturally, they through a party._

_I stopped you from heading up to the Tower; I wanted to speak to you. You asked, "What, Cedric?" And I smiled and laughed. "You amuse me sometimes. I just wanted to tell you that I believe you didn't put your name in the Goblet. Goodnight. And good luck surviving the party the Gryffs are throwing."_

_You smiled and said goodnight back and were off to your Common Room, at least smiling faintly and not looking so petrified. Up in the Tower, there was a raging party that you decimated by swearing on your magic that you didn't enter you name in the Goblet._

_Those were good times._

_Love, Cedric._

A tear dripped down Harry's face, and he turned the letter over, only to find a magical photo.

Cedric was smiling out of the photo, an easy happy grin that hadn't been seen in almost two months.

A sob caught in Harry's throat and a sob racked his skinny frame.

Surely he had to be hallucinating... It simply wasn't possible that he had been writing Cedric Diggory. It had to be like Tom and the Diary, but it couldn't be. Harry simply didn't believe it, and a few minutes later, Symba disappeared, only to reappear almost instantly, but that time with a letter in his beak.

_It's alright, Harry. I know you blame yourself, and I know you miss me, but please, please, you have to go on living. Please Harry, live on as if I were still alive. I understand, I really do, but don't do this to yourself and others. Imagine how Ron and Hermione would feel if you shut down. Don't put them through that, Harry. Become the next Merlin Emyrs, and let yourself be remembered as a person who didn't lose hope when his friends died. Just took comfort in knowing they would be avenged. Voldemort is back, Harry, and you need to move on. Kill him, Harry, do it for me if not for yourself. Hold on, Brother! You can do this, so have confidence. You're a brilliant wizard, Harry._

_Onto something brighter, I can dream visit now. I'll speak to you tonight._

_Love, Cedric._

Another sob racked Harry's shoulders, but he took a long, calming breath. He would speak to Cedric again. Cedric wanted him to keep going. So he would.

Harry took another deep breath. Then set his jaw and smiled at Symba.

"You should stay here, Symba. Turn invisible. I'll see you later, buddy."

* * *

><p>Those letters made Harry grow stronger, and he often asked Cedric for opinions on different matters. One might have gone as far to say that the older teen was the only thing keeping the emerald-eyed teen sane.<p>

Because of Cedric's guidance, Harry avoided detention with Umbridge and any sort of involvement with blood quills. He learned the Prophecy from Cedric who learned it from Lily and James who were dead.

Sirius didn't die at the end of the year and Dumbledore never left the school. Harry got together with Luna at the end of the year, and the next year he passed with ease before his second year.

With Cedric's help, Harry took NEWTs over the summer and then began the horcrux hunt with the help of his ever loyal friends, Luna, Hermione, Ron and Neville (Harry was close to all of them), and every loyaler pet dead owl, Symba.

They destroyed the horcuruxes and freed the school from the Carrow twins shortly before killing Voldemort.

Three years later Harry was married to Luna, while Neville and Hermione were married and Ron and Lavender. Ginny never got over the loss of Harry and never married.

Harry and Luna had three children, Hazel Luna looked like Luna with bright emerald eyes, two years later Gabrielle Lily looked like her father with bright grey eyes, and the youngest, two years younger than Elle, James Neville.

Neville and Hermione had the twins, naturally identical, Gideon and Fabian, named after Fred and George, with the middle names of Connor and Travis. They just were meant for trouble, weren't they.

Ron and Lavender had one child, Ronald Billius the second.

They all lived on happily ever after with Cedric writing letters to Harry forever more.


End file.
